Fed: Govt backbenchers support Qantas

AAP General News (Australia)
12-06-2005
Fed: Govt backbenchers support Qantas

CANBERRA, Dec 6 AAP - Coalition backbenchers have expressed their strong support for
Qantas as cabinet prepares to decide whether to allow Singapore Airlines to compete on
the lucrative trans-Pacific route.

Cabinet is expected to decide before the end of the year whether to open the route,
a move which would see Singapore Airlines compete with Qantas.

Several coalition backbench MPs and senators today offered support for Qantas during
a joint partyroom meeting.

A partyroom spokesman said a number of backbenchers expressed "strong support for their
(Qantas') position here in Australia, in regional ports, job creation etc."

The spokesman said none of the backbenchers mentioned Singapore Airlines, but it was
implied they feared an impact on Qantas if the trans-Pacific route was opened.

"Some of the regional members who obviously have Qantas as operating either service
facilities or international flights recognised the importance that they play in their
communities," he said.

Cabinet's decision on the trans-Pacific route, Qantas' most profitable, comes after
the execution in Singapore of convicted Australian drug trafficker Nguyen Tuong Van.

In the leadup to the execution there were calls for the government to use trade as
a means of pressuring Singapore to commute the sentence.

Qantas opposes any move to allow extra carriers onto the lucrative route it now shares
with US carrier United Airlines.

AAP bt/sb/mon

KEYWORD: SINGAPORE AUST MPS

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